- Game started on Xbox One S...
- ... but quickly recovered on Xbox Series X.
- Game purchased in dematerialized.
- About 30 hours in total.
- Two fingers from 100%.
- No divulgations to expect from this article.
- Images found on Steam because I forgot to make catch while playing...
Ambitious project, of a fairly impressive scope due to a cast provided and vague intentions to hang up with the film Rogue One, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order announced a nice sunlight after the dark cancellation of the wait 1313. Even so, Electronic Arts had to leave enough room for a Respawn Entertainment, known for its Titanfall but especially for Apex Legends, studio that nobody expected on this slot. With its melting pot of various influences, both in narrative, staging, gameplay and progression, Fallen Order seemed to have chosen to royally take their feet in the carpet, or to put everyone in agreement. Apart from a few small coumacs that understand each other more or less, we will come back, but we can say that we witnessed the birth of a star.
The Return of the Jedi
Of all the film franchises to have had the « Good luck » be adapted to video game, Star Wars is certainly, and by far, the most prolific. There is a pretty crazy amount of titles taking place in the universe of Georges Lucas, whether they are film transcripts, experiences around characters or key moments like with Bounty Hunter or Star Wars Racer, or even more ambitious attempts leaving us free from our approaches, as in KOTOR or Jedi Knight. An absolutely crazy variety of productions, few of which have disappointed, as surprising as it may seem, doubtless because of a often palpable love of the original work, which usually suffices to make forget some pitfalls. I would also like to recommend the very undercosted Lethal Alliance of the PSP, an unjustly sloppy title. However, if there was a time when the releases were going on at a hard-to-follow speed, both for the players and for the studios, let's say up to the seventh generation of consoles, the franchise ended up losing some speed on the side of the video games, probably due to increasing time and development costs. But also a few small tolls, like the famous history of lootboxes in Battlefront II, or the catastrophic lifespan and bad gameplay of The Force Unleashed II. At the same time, and while some aura emerges from the project, redoubling the intense expectation, Electronic Arts cancels Star Wars 1313 without warning, annihilating a block the hopes of the players to retouch one day a solo title of scale in this highly appreciated universe. While, on the film side, the new trilogy seriously disappoints a large part of the fans of the six original films, the fault of a more busy Disney to milk his licenses until they drain their potential rather than respect loyal customers. These reasons lead, in 2019, to a rather colossal expectation around Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, title visibly eager to reconcile everyone, the oldest as well as the youngest. A daring bet.
To do this, Electronic Arts puts small dishes in the big ones, and sends coal to one of its biggest studios of the time, Reswpawn Entertainment, composed largely of former developers of Call of Duty. At the same time, the American firm is taking on a few beautiful poster heads, including Forest Whitaker who takes on the role of Saw Gerrera whom he plays in parallel in the film Rogue One ; As well as Debra Wilson, whose voice is well known to English-speaking players as she participated in the dubbing of an absolutely astronomical amount of titles, including Metal Gear Solid 4, Days Gone or Forspoken, but that fans of League of Legends will recognize for his incarnation of Renata Glasc. And of course, for the protagonist it is the rising star Cameron Monaghan who is chosen, actor that we all discovered in Malcolm in the Middle before his leading role in the American version of the series Shameless. Little shout out of the passage to the British show, which unfortunately was eclipsed in favor of its remake having, in my view at least, a much less marked identity, in addition to playing it moralizing at times, which I find quite inappropriate. From the beautiful world, in any case, which will perfectly fulfill its office: a dubbing of quality, without any false note, permeating this adventure with a deep respect towards the extended universe of the Star Wars. At least, in English, since the VF is somewhat disappointing, as too often, unfortunately. Too bad that to enjoy the VO, one must necessarily pass his console in English, something that I personally chose to do, at the expense of comfort (texts ending inexorably in Shakespeare's language at the same time), otherwise I knew that immersion would all too often be damaged. Excuse purist delusion.
A delirium which, however, is quite important in the appreciation of the title, which aims at immersion in the broad sense thanks to cinematographic ambitions displayed from the first seconds, dialogues almost always staged with accuracy, as well as work on the atmosphere that feels and flies. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will allow us to visit several planets (not Tatooine for once, thank God), each having a little something singular, and we must say what is: we really believe in it. So yes, not everything is completely pink at this level, and it will be noted to begin with that the old gen versions struggle to keep up with the pace of this greedy game technically. I personally started my game on Xbox One S, and I finally migrated to the X Series to avoid fairly regular framerate falls, some unaesthetic visual artifacts, or simply the characteristic noise of a suffering fan as soon as more than three enemies are on screen. Nothing dramatic, in the absolute, and I do not doubt that the game can be appreciated in these conditions, but I personally chose a comfort that played a certain positive role in my experience.
Another small black dot for immersion, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order borrows a lot from Metroidvania in the construction of its environments, which induces quite a lot of journeys/returns, secrets sometimes well hidden, and more overall a level Design a bit labyrinthic. However, while most of the time said Level Lesign is absolutely unattackable, it must be recognized that some passages are below, failing to maintain the impression of a coherent world. It's rare, but it deserves to be emphasized. No instant displacement system either, which one would have needed to avoid a few long crossings of spaces that one ends up knowing by heart. Finally, I would tend to think that, among the planets available, Dathomir is the least successful, having left a back taste of forced filling in the mouth, especially because of a palette of colors seeming to me badly chosen.
The Dark Souls of casual gamer?
But the most important thing that has caused ink to flow, and rightly so, is the affiliation between Fallen Order and Dark Souls. As mentioned earlier, the title of Respawn Entertainment is what could be termed melting pot influences, which is valid for all strata the component. Now, at the gameplay level, since we are still in the middle of Soul-like mode, we find ourselves with something that hardly surprises at first sight: parades, possibility to lock the sight on an enemy to turn around, roulades, all with a certain requirement that can lead to a quick trip. Nothing really new under the sun, and even though some will regret the more arcade and jubilatory side of a Star Wars : The Force Unleashed (first of the name), it must nevertheless be recognized that this way of doing things works perfectly, allows a certain appreciable accuracy (despite a few failures), and offers a real feeling of uplifting, while avoiding a style of play too complex to understand.
The attacks of the enemies are legible, the impacts of laser saber make really good, and all the use of force is intuitive and jubilatory. However, and it is in my opinion the biggest flaw of the game, we also find the campfire system of a Dark Souls. System that, you are not without knowledge, represents as much a point of backup as the opportunity to spend its points of experience to improve his character (here via a rather basic skill tree). So far nothing mean. Where it's more complicated, it's when the game makes the choice to make all enemies reappear when we decide to rest for a few seconds. It's hard to understand what may have pushed Respawn Entertainment to take over From Software's formula at this level in the letter, because there's never any justification for using this game design element, if it's the will to allow novices to grow the experience, avoiding the frustration of an overly complicated boss. Too bad when, as said earlier, the game clearly aims at total immersion.
In addition to this, the challenge is well measured. The first fights give us time to get to the perfect timings or parades, to grasp the rhythm a slow hair of confrontations, characteristic of the game system way From Software, and to appreciate the surgical cutting of small extraterrestrial bugs that seem harmless with the help of a laser sword that it will be possible to customize according to his desires. Once this gameplay is in hand, the title will apply to offer us new capabilities, whether it be specific movements or power-related powers. We can quickly push our opponents back or draw them to us, which will allow us, among other things, to waltz them in the vacuum or to blow them a blow that they cannot avoid. An absolutely gloomy possibility, which also makes a lot of sense during exploration, since it will be useful to pass certain sequences, especially from a platform. Thus, as mentioned earlier, the game has a Metroidvania aspect, preventing us from progressing in some ways during our first exploration of a planet, a concept that works rather well, thanks to a globally intelligent Level Design. Everything is gathered for an excellent moment, until we recover the rather well-feeled idea of having us embody an ancient Padawan who fled in extremis during the rebellion of the clones and the massacre of the Jedi order. A period that makes many fantasies, for obvious reasons, and which is explored here in a
At the scenario level, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order does not attempt anything very perilous, finally contenting with a classical structure placing our hero in a position of weakness before seeing him gain power and return the situation to his advantage. Some passages are well felt, some revelations are interesting, but on the whole it must be recognized that history is predictable, even when it tries to let a certain mystery hover. Too bad, in a sense, although it finally joins the films (and I am talking about the first six) that were not left behind in the situations called. And in general, it must be recognized that, despite rather thin ambitions in terms of writing and some awkwardness, history still works wonderfully, whether thanks to its spectacular and very successful staging, or its very effective fan service. The idea that our hero embodies the last hope of the galaxy by going to search for a list of children sensitive to force, with the aim of reforming the Jedi order, is not very original, not very new, but it remains difficult not to be touched when one deeply loves frankness, even if the end can disappoint. Similarly, some passages that I would not reveal to you are surprising, and even manage to mark for a long time. Especially a whole sequence at the end of the game that makes us feel tiny after hours to feel all powerful. Finally, I personally enjoyed the fact that the scenario forces us to return to planets already explored.
does not attempt anything very perilous, finally contenting with a classical structure placing our hero in a position of weakness before seeing him gain power and return the situation to his advantage. Some passages are well felt, some revelations are interesting, but on the whole it must be recognized that history is predictable, even when it tries to let a certain mystery hover. Too bad, in a sense, although it finally joins the films (and I am talking about the first six) that were not left behind in the situations called. And in general, it must be recognized that, despite rather thin ambitions in terms of writing and some awkwardness, history still works wonderfully, whether thanks to its spectacular and very successful staging, or its very effective fan service. The idea that our hero embodies the last hope of the galaxy by going to search for a list of children sensitive to force, with the aim of reforming the Jedi order, is not very original, not very new, but it remains difficult not to be touched when one deeply loves frankness, even if the end can disappoint. Similarly, some passages that I would not reveal to you are surprising, and even manage to mark for a long time. Especially a whole sequence at the end of the game that makes us feel tiny after hours to feel all powerful. Finally, I personally enjoyed the fact that the scenario forces us to return to planets already explored. Dark SoulsA change of air that also passes through a wide variety in situations, with as many platforms as puzzles, sometimes quite twisted elsewhere. After Tomb RaiderThere is one aspect in this area which is very reminiscent of recent Fallen Order. But also, we talked about earlier, the perfectly subsidiary exploration that will allow us to put our hands on elements to customize his character, the mascot of this episode, the ship that serves us as a taxi, and of course (thank God) our laser sword. A sword that will be used extensively during adventure, obviously, since fighting takes an important place in the recipe of
, with many surprises that make their small effect. Among them, the possibility, spent a certain stage, to use a double saber way Dark Maul still feels very strong fantasies, and personally it was much appreciated. Especially as these changes change the gameplay. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is, in 2019, a small slam at this level, finally suffering only slowdowns that I quoted earlier, fortunately absent as soon as we play on the current generation of consoles. The artistic direction, however, makes a real without fail, with again a very strong respect for the original work, and the soundtrack is in the same tone as the films, with some pieces that make the fighting or the milestones even more powerful. Remains a very honest lifetime, rotating between 20 and 30h according to your rhythm and affinity with the annex content; a New Game + anecdotal but has merit to exist; boss fights may be a little too rare but nevertheless successful; characters to whom we attach and whom I personally look forward to finding in the suite; or even a precisely distilled lore, which one can decide to completely neglect to envy.
Everything may not be perfect, especially with a system that recalls Dark Souls' campfire and makes absolutely no sense here, but Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order nevertheless remains an honest attempt to which it is very difficult not to adhere due to bright ideas and a very well dosed rhythm. With its variety of situations and jubilatory fights, endearing characters and impeccable staging, respectful artistic direction and technique that causes asthma attacks on the previous generation of consoles, Respawn's game Sure, we're getting some for our money. However, at the price at which it is sold today, it is difficult not to recommend its purchase with closed eyes!
For
- Leached staging
- Fun fights
- Use of force
- Fan efficient service
- Very satisfactory content
- Level Design Successful
- Nice casting (in VO)
Against
- Flushing technique on old gen
- The Respawn of Dark Soul Enemy
- Some failures during the fighting
- Rapid displacement would have been a plus
- Dathomir, the planet too
I remembered that Ummagumma had said a lot of good at the time. Excellent critic. I missed him back then. I admit the last trilogy managed to make me almost hate Star Wars. Like an indigestion of a saga that still mired so much dream and that I watched countless times. Maybe I'll try my luck on the occasion, 'cause your paper makes you want it. You feel like you know your subject and Lucas' extended universe.
Thank you very much (with delay)!
And I am in exactly the same case, I vomited the last films (not even seen the ninth elsewhere), and I had put the license aside. But we find so many games with a palpable passion taking place in this universe, or even books (I devoured some very appreciated stories such as The Black Crusade of Jedi Fou) that I ended up returning to the race by pretending that Disney had never bought this license dear to my heart!